Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5870 To amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure that the time during which members of the Armed Forces serve on active duty for training qualifies for educational assistance under the Post-9/11 Educational As- sistance Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 12, 2020 Mr. LEVIN of California (for himself, Mr. PALAZZO, and Mr. RYAN) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Vet- erans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure that the time during which members of the Armed Forces serve on active duty for training qualifies for educational as- sistance under the Post-9/11 Educational Assistance Pro- gram of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Guard and Reserve 4 GI Bill Parity Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Feb 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5870.IH H5870 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5870 IH SEC. 2. ADDITION OF OTHER DUTY STATUSES TO QUALIFY 1 FOR POST-9/11 EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE 2 PROGRAM. 3 (a) QUALIFYING DUTY.—Section 3311(b) of title 38, 4 United States Code, is amended— 5 (1) by striking ‘‘(including’’ each place it ap- 6 pears and inserting ‘‘(including other qualifying duty 7 and’’; 8 (2) by striking ‘‘(excluding’’ each place it ap- 9 pears and inserting ‘‘(including other qualifying duty 10 but excluding’’; and 11 (3) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting ‘‘or other 12 qualifying duty’’ after ‘‘active duty’’. 13 (b) OTHER QUALIFYING DUTY DEFINED.—Section 14 3301 of such title is amended— 15 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as 16 paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively; and 17 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol- 18 lowing new paragraph (3): 19 ‘‘(3) The term ‘other qualifying duty’ means 20 the following: 21 ‘‘(A) Duty under section 502 of title 32. 22 ‘‘(B) Duty for which a member is eligible 23 to receive pay under section 204, 206, or 372 24 of title 37.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Feb 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5870.IH H5870 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5870 IH (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall take effect on August 1, 2021, and shall 2 apply with respect to— 3 (1) academic years beginning on or after Au- 4 gust 1, 2021; and 5 (2) service performed before, on, or after the 6 date of the enactment of this Act. 7 SEC. 3. SIMPLIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR 8 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS POST-9/ 9 11 EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 3301 of 11 title 38, United States Code, is amended to read as fol- 12 lows: 13 ‘‘(1) The term ‘active duty’ has the meanings 14 as follows (subject to the limitations specified in sec- 15 tions 3002(6) and 3311(b)): 16 ‘‘(A) Active duty as described in section 17 101(21)(A) of this title. 18 ‘‘(B) Active duty for training as described 19 in section 101(22)(A), (C), and (E) of this title. 20 ‘‘(C) Active duty as defined in section 21 101(12) of title 32. 22 ‘‘(D) Full-time National Guard duty as de- 23 fined in section 101(19) of title 32.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Feb 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5870.IH H5870 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5870 IH (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 1 subsection (a) shall take effect on August 1, 2021, and 2 shall apply with respect to— 3 (1) academic years beginning on or after Au- 4 gust 1, 2021; and 5 (2) service performed before, on, or after the 6 date of the enactment of this Act. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:45 Feb 19, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5870.IH H5870 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS